The  14-year- old child actor Fernando Xavier de Casta, who played a leading role in the upcoming film Plaza Catedral, was gunned down in  Torrijos Carter on Thursday and his lifeless body left on the street beside a taxi.

The film's producer, Panamanian filmmaker Abner Benaim, and Mexican actress Ilse Salas, who starred in the film little Fernando and is known in Panama for her performance in the Netflix telenovela “One Hundred Days to Fall in Love,” lamented what happened.

“ Fernando and so many other young people die from violence in our beloved country almost daily. We have to work as a society and as individuals so that these gruesome and senseless deaths are not part of normalcy. Rest in peace Fernando. We will never forget you,” said Benaim.

Salas paid tribute to the young actor on Instagram "Fernando Xavier de Casta. He was an outstanding dancer, soccer player, and actor. Brilliant and funny, very bright and very funny. He taught me NOT to act, to dance, and to understand Panamanian. And to understand many more things. He is the protagonist of 'Plaza Catedral', a film that he did not see, of which he would have been very proud because his work is precious. A tremendous colleague, very hard, "he wrote."Fernando Xavier de Casta. He was an outstanding dancer, soccer player, and actor. Brilliant and funny, very bright and very funny.